Houston families who lost homes during Hurricane Harvey find sleep where they can

Follow three families displaced by Hurricane Harvey and see how they cope.

Media: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle

The large shelters have closed, volunteers have scattered and most of the piles of curbside debris have been hauled away. Two months after the worst flooding in Houston's history, the city is moving on.

Yet for tens of thousands of families whose homes were damaged, Harvey is not past tense — not yet. They show up for work, their children go to school, and from the outside their homes may appear normal.

Their private reality is different.

They spend their days balancing jobs and endless cleanup, arguing with bureaucrats, fighting off despair. They have learned to improvise, to find sleep where they can: in motel rooms, cars, hollowed-out houses.

Manuel Perea sleeps in a converted school bus in the backyard of his flood-damaged rental home.

Manuel Perea sleeps in a converted school bus in the backyard of his flood-damaged rental home.

Photo: Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle

Photo: Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle

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Manuel Perea sleeps in a converted school bus in the backyard of his flood-damaged rental home.

Manuel Perea sleeps in a converted school bus in the backyard of his flood-damaged rental home.

Photo: Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle

Houston families who lost homes during Hurricane Harvey find sleep where they can

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The Houston Chronicle followed three of these families: a couple and their young children clinging to an uninhabitable rental, a man trying to salvage his elderly parents' house, a school teacher trying to hold it together for her students. Their circumstances vary, but they share a determination to reclaim the lives they led before the deluge.

Habitat for Humanity has set a goal of helping 2,000 families repair or rebuild their homes in Texas in the next three to five years.

SBP: Disaster Resilience and Recovery was one of the four charities that Houston Texan J.J. Watt selected to receive a piece of the $37 million he raised for Hurricane Harvey relief in a fundraiser that made national headlines.

SBP said it planned to use the money to help families rebuild at least 200 homes in Houston and the surrounding areas, though its online application for home repairs and rebuilds was temporarily closed to cope with the high volume of applications, according to the charity's website.

On its website, SBP also has guides for homeowners trying to navigate FEMA applications, make sure their home is free of mold or avoid contractor fraud.

Residents affected by Hurricane Harvey can also apply for federal assistance until Nov. 30 by visiting disasterassistance.gov or calling (800) 621-3362 or (800) 462-7585.